So last night, after 4 passes, I finally got the AppleTV hacked to my satisfaction. I had to give up on a few features in the name of keeping things stable and easy for the family to use, but it does everything I really wanted it to, and runs smoothly…

This morning, they released the AppleTV 2.1 Update.

I did manage to get Nito TV’s Smart Installer and Turbo’s Kext Loader running in 2.0.2, but the result was a system so jam packed with stuff it wasn’t supposed to do that video play-back suffered badly. Here’s the steps I took, in case anyone else wants to try it:

• Do a clean restore on your AppleTV. Any previous failed hacking attempts will confuse the installer.
• Patchstick
• Copy over the Nito TV Installer and run it
• sudo bash then mount -uw / to get write access
• Run Nito TVs Fix Permissions script: sudo /System/Library/CoreServices/Finder.app/Contents/PlugIns/nitoTV.frappliance/Contents/Resources/fixPerm
• Make a directory called Documents in ~/
• Copy the 10.4.9 Combo Update into that folder
• Install Turbo’s Kext Loader via the Nito TV UI on your AppleTV
• Run the Smart Installer
• Assuming it succeeds, now download and run this guy’s script to fix AFP
• You’ll probably also need to fix permissions on the AppleShare stuff
• Then try a manual mount: mount_afp -i afp://user:password@192.168.1.110/media /Users/frontrow/Movies/
• If that works, you’re in business! Reboot to clear that mount, and check out Sapphire to load content from your mounted folders.
• Finally, install the MPlayer Codecs from the NitoTV UI

Also, I do not recommend installing Perian via the Nito TV menu (its irreparably screwed up playback on me every time, and I’ve had to restore and start over!) Copy over your codecs from an Intel Mac if you can — including Flip4Mac, DivX Import, AC3 Import and the AC52 Audio Component.

Now about 2.1…

Running the 2.1 update did clean-out my hacks. I was hoping it was an install-in-place sort of deal, and it wouldn’t mess with anything it didn’t need… too bad. Here’s what I tried:

• Re-run the Patchstick: Success!
• Install Nito TV: Fail — puts the Finder in an endless start-up loop
• Restore to 2.0.2 re-run the Patchstick, run the update to 2.1: Success
• Install Home MediaCloud: Partial Success… the Finder menu item shows up, but accessing it causes a Finder reboot.

So, for now at least, I’ll have to wait for 2.1 update (and the ability to control my AppleTV with my iPhone) but I guess that’s alright.

Update on 2.1

• Still no luck with Home MediaCloud, and no luck contacting its author. However, NitoTV is updated and working in conjunction with Sapphire Browser. Its cludgey, compared to the uPnP approach, but I’m working on how to refine it.

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